A perfect storm of factors led to the 2008 financial crisis, one of them being the ability to get a mortgage with little or no money down. Fast forward to 2015, and now there is a new product, called the “Wealth Building Home Loan” that offers no-money-down mortgages. Think Advisor says the home loan is supposed to be safer and more secure than the traditional 30-year mortgage, because it has a term of 15 or 20 years and is structured with lower interest costs early on to allow the borrower to build equity. Interest costs begin to rise after five years, according to Think Advisor. Additionally, tighter lending standards are said to lower the number of defaults.

Exchange-traded funds continue to gain popularity among investors. ETF assets climbed 7.4% in the third quarter to $US2.1 trillion, according to research conducted by Broadridge Financial Solutions. As money moved into ETFs, it moved out of long-term mutual funds, which saw their holdings slip 2% to $US7.2 trillion. Data provided by Morningstar showed fixed income and allocation funds recorded the biggest jump in ETF participation as assets in those categories surged 23% and 22%, respectively. “RIAs, which hold a higher percentage of passively managed funds, were the only retail channel with an increase of long-term fund assets over the last year,” Frank Polefrone, senior vice president of Broadridge’s Access Data product suite, said in a statement.

Richard Ketchum, CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, says he will be stepping down during the second half of 2016 after seven years with the regulator. According to Investment News, Ketchum previously served as president of the National Association of Securities Dealers and as the director of the division of market regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission. “By informing them of this now, I hope to provide the board with ample opportunity to conduct a thorough search, both internally and externally, for my successor,” Ketchum wrote.

The US Senate has passed a two-year budget deal and raised the debt ceiling until March 2017 after voting 64 to 35 in favour of the bill. This follows Wednesday’s passage in the House of Representatives. President Barack Obama will soon sign the bill into law.

China’s yuan rallied 0.6% to 6.3174 per dollar on Friday to close at its strongest level since the August 11 devaluation. The advance was the largest one-day gain since its peg was removed 10 years ago, and it comes after the People’s Bank of China suggested it was considering easing capital controls. Despite Friday’s gain, the yuan remains near its weakest levels versus the US dollar since the summer of 2012.